Teoscar the Grouch

In the AL East, the fifth place team has one of the best players in baseball right now, while the fourth place team's best player is Justin Smoak, who's batting .241 with a team high of 84 strikeouts. To say that it's not a great time to be a Toronto Blue Jays fan is a grave understatement.

I saw them play a month ago, and while it came together for them then, thanks to some insane home run work from Curtis Granderson, Kevin Pillar, Teoscar Hernandez and Kendrys Morales, this team can't do much more than hit home runs. There's not a ton of well-rounded energy here. Josh Donaldson is on and off the DL, there's barely a bench since Steve Pearce was traded to Boston, and the only starter hitting more than .250 right now is Teoscar Hernandez. Former All-Stars like Smoak, Russell Martin, Kendrys Morales, Granderson, Pillar, and Aledmys Diaz WISH they were doing that well.

And yes, J.A. Happ made the All Star team as the only representative, and he's the best pitcher on the team right now, but with a 4.44 ERA, it's not by much. Many of the usual fireballers, like Marco Estrada, Aaron Sanchez and Marcus Stroman, are having down years, and a lot of younger, less-experienced pitchers need to be call on. Hell, the perennial All Star closer is out on domestic abuse charges. So while it's nice that kids like Ryan Borucki and Sam Gaviglio are joining the rotation and pitching alright, it's a disappointment from a team whose pitching staff used to be a brick wall in the postseason.

I imagine some of the standouts might get divvied up at the end of the month, especially Happ. The Jays might need to rebuild, and rethink a team that might have to be led by someone other than Josh Donaldson.

Coming Tonight: A surging Atlanta Braves outfielder. No, not that one. Or that one. Yeah, him.